What Binds Us Together
by VeryBerry96
Summary: When 6 friends go on vacation together, they never expected an adventure quite like this. They never thought they'd get zapped into another world. And they especially never thought they'd meet a Keyblade Master. RikuXOC. Rated T cause I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1 - It Begins

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is the Kingdom Hearts story I have been promising my friend Meghan I would publish for ages. I hope you all enjoy it! Please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix. I own Hana, Chizu, Machi, Hisano, Yukiko and Mariko.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 – It Begins **

_~Hana's POV~_

"Hisano! Machi! Hurry it up!"

"Hana, shut up. You kept us up till _two in the bloody morning _last night."

I smiled innocently at Hisano. "What can I say? I was excited!"

Hisano looked less than amused. "Well don't expect us to be all excited when it's your fault we didn't get enough sleep."

"In Hana's defence," Yukiko piped up, "she kept us up too, and we're fine!"

Hisano glared at our resident ginger before throwing a sandwich at her. Yukiko dodged it and it landed on the floor before Mariko, being the calmest of all of us right now, picked it up and threw it in a bin next to us. Chizu patted her on the head and she laughed.

Very soon the six of us saw the massive golf ball-like structure in the distance and sped up, even the two sleepy-heads. Both Chizu and I actually squealed and started to run, Mariko and Yukiko soon following. Hisano and Machi just rolled their eyes and followed at a normal pace.

We were on holiday together to celebrate the end of our days at high school. We would all be off to university or college in a few months, and we would probably never get the chance to do something altogether for a while since we'd all be going to different places to do different courses: me to do teaching, Yukiko to do biology, Chizu to do photography and Hisano to do medicine. Machi was going to get a job, and Mariko was taking a gap year to decide what she wanted to do before she went to uni. So we'd wanted to do something _big _before we all went our separate ways, and as such we'd all saved up our money over the past year and a half and were now in Florida. Orlando to be precise. And right now we were heading towards Epcot, one of the four Disney theme parks. We'd already done Magic Kingdom a few days before, and had spent yesterday recovering by just hanging out at the pool. But today we were back at the parks and ready to go! Well, four out of six of us were anyway.

It took a while, what with the security checks at the front of the park, but we were soon in. Chizu and I were still squealing. By this point Machi had woken up properly and was joining in. Yukiko and Mariko were doubled over in laughter at our reaction to when Merida from Brave walked past, and Hisano was pretending she didn't know us, as per usual when the six of us were together.

After we went on a few rides and bought enough candy to feed a small country, we decided to check out the World Showcase, where they had miniature versions of 11 different countries. We did a panoramic cinema thing in Canada, had some fish and chips in the United Kingdom, and Hisano and Yukiko were brave enough to try some snails in France while Mariko and I each bought little Minnie Mouse dolls in can-can dresses. Then we got to the jewel in the World Showcase crown: Japan.

Chizu, Mariko, Machi and I love Japan and everything about it. We are complete and utter otaku. We love anime, manga, Japanese video games, the lot. Hisano likes the video games, and has read Bleach and Naruto, and Yukiko thought we were all bonkers but we dragged her along with the promise of a Pikachu plushie.

Of course, Chizu and I headed straight for the shop which sold anime merchandise, in particular, plushies, and the others followed not wanted us to get separated and lost. After finding multiple anime dolls and having to just pick one to buy since they were very expensive (seriously, took us about twenty minutes to decide), Machi shouted us over. Hisano, Mariko and Yukiko were looking at some Pokémon key-rings so we left them to it and went over to see what Machi was pointing at.

"Isn't that the weapon from that game you two love?" she asked.

My eyes widened as I saw what she was pointing at, as did Chizu's. In the box in front of Machi were six keyblades, replicas of the weapon from Kingdom Hearts which Chizu and I were ever so slightly obsessed with. They were Kingdom Keys, the most prominent keyblade in the series.

We both stood there silently with our mouths hanging open for a few moments with Machi looking back and forth between the keyblades and us worriedly. Chizu snapped out of it first and grabbed hold of one of the keyblades and began to wave it about in the air.

"Look at me!" she cried excitedly. "I am a Keyblade Master!"

Machi burst out laughing at how ridiculous she looked. That seemed to bring me to my senses and I grabbed a keyblade and copied her. We would have had a fake fight but we were both aware that the shop assistants would probably ask us to leave.

"These are…keyblades, right?" Machi checked, picking one up herself.

Chizu nodded, her black hair bouncing around her head and her fringe almost covering her eyes as normal.

I was about to say something to Machi, but all of a sudden something happened.

I couldn't move. And from the looks of things, neither could Chizu or Machi. Both of their faces were frozen in shock, only their eyes darting about wildly in fear.

A bright light began to form at the tip of each of the keyblades we were holding, until they expanded rapidly and engulfed us.

The last thing I heard before I blacked out was Mariko screaming.

* * *

…

…Was that…waves I could hear?

I opened my eyes slowly and sat up, rubbing my throbbing head. I looked around. I was in a forest of some sort, but I could hear gulls and the ocean in the distance.

Where the heck was I?

I heard soft moaning and spotted Chizu lying in a bush next to me. I quickly shook her and she opened her eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You alright?" I asked her.

She nodded slowly, attempting to brush her fringe away from her eyes. "Yeah…I think so."

Her eyes widened all of a sudden. "Machi!"

I gasped and looked around wildly, calling her name.

"Machi!"

"…I'm over here!"

Chizu and I both jumped up and we ran towards her voice. We found her lying on her side just off of a path, her died-purple hair having fallen around her face as it had come out of its bun. She had a deep-looking cut on her face, and a bruise seemed to already be forming on her forehead.

"Are you hurt?" I asked.

She started to shake her head but groaned slightly, before nodding. "Yeah…I'm hurt," she sighed, sounding more frustrated than anything else.

We helped her sit up and she looked around. "Where the heck are we?"

I sighed. "I have no idea. But we'd better try and find someone to help you with that cut. It looks pretty bad."

Machi frowned before touching her cheek. She winced, and she saw the blood on her hand as she pulled it away. She sighed again and nodded.

"Can you walk?" Chizu asked.

Machi nodded determinedly, and we helped her to her feet.

We followed a natural path for a while, which seemed to be leading us uphill. I spotted a tree which looked easy enough to climb so I told Chizu to stay with Machi and went up to have a look.

From the top I could see we were on an island. I spotted another island in the distance, which looked bigger than the one we were on. I could see three people on the beach, two boys and a girl, who looked about our age. They were too far away for me to hear what they were saying, but I could see the two boys were playing some sort of ball-game and the girl was watching. I frowned, fairly certain I recognised them.

Then it hit me. And I hit the ground. Literally. I fell out the tree with shock.

Chizu and Machi crouched down next to me.

"Are you alright?" Machi asked worriedly.

I wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying. "Tidus, Selphie and Wakka…" I mumbled.

Both girls looked confused.

"Um…what?" Chizu asked.

I looked up at both of them, my eyes wide. "I think I know where we are."

After a few moments silence, Machi spoke up. "Well?" she pressed.

I shook my head, trying to convince myself that it was impossible, but I knew what I'd seen.

"We're on Destiny Islands," I told them. "We're in the world of Kingdom Hearts."

* * *

_~Hisano's POV~_

"This is Pikachu, right?" I asked.

Yukiko looked impressed. "I thought you didn't like Pokémon, Hisano."

I shrugged. "I don't really. But doesn't everyone and their mother know Pikachu?"

Before she could respond a blood curdling scream came from behind us. We both turned sharply to see Mariko staring at an empty space, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide and scared.

"Mariko? What's wrong?" Yukiko asked.

Mariko pointed where she was staring, her hand shaking. "H…Hana, Chizu and Machi. They…they disappeared."

Yukiko frowned. "Come on Mariko. They can't have just disappeared into thin air."

Mariko turned to face us, and I could see her eyes were filled with tears. Mariko isn't the kind of person who would make this kind of stuff up.

I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Mariko, what did you see?"

"The girls picked something up out of that box," she pointed, "then there was a bright light and they vanished."

I squeezed her shoulder before walking over to the box. My eyes widened slightly when I saw what was in it. There were three replica Kingdom Key keyblades. I reached down to pick one up but Mariko grabbed my arm.

"Don't!" she cried. "The others disappeared when they did that!"

"They don't you see that doing the same thing is the most likely way we're going to find them?" I pointed out.

"Hisano has a point," Yukiko added. "We need to try and find them."

Mariko looked at us both in turn before wiping her tears away and nodding determinedly.

I reached down and picked up one of the keyblades, and Yukiko did the same. Mariko swallowed nervously before taking hold of the last keyblade in the box.

As soon as her hand had wrapped around the handle all three of us were paralysed. All we could move were our eyes. Mariko looked terrified, as did Yukiko. I felt the same but I refused to show it. I tried to shoot them both reassuring glances before a bright light engulfed all three of us.

Just before I passed out, the white light turned black.

Then there was nothing.


	2. Chapter 2 - Unexpected Power

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you enjoy! Please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix. I own my OCs Hana, Chizu, Machi, Hisano, Yukiko and Mariko. **

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Unexpected Power**

_~Hana's POV~_

"What the hell do you mean we're on Destiny Islands?" Chizu yelled.

Machi wasn't saying anything. She just looked shocked.

"I could see Tidus and Wakka playing down on the beach," I explained. "Selphie was watching them."

Chizu ran her hand through her hair. She walked away from Machi and I muttering to herself.

"Destiny Islands…we were at Disneyland…now we're in Kingdom freaking Hearts."

She turned towards the sea and screamed. No words, just a long loud scream.

Machi and I looked at each other, both of us with worried looks in our eyes. Chizu normally didn't freak out over anything.

She took some deep breaths before turning back to face us.

"I'm alright," she reassured us, seeing the worry on our faces.

I gave her a look and she nodded again, smiling weakly.

"Okay…" I said slowly. "Well, we know people are down on the beach. Namely Tidus, Selphie and Wakka. Machi still needs something done about that cut on her cheek, and we need to figure out how the hell we got here."

"How are Tidus, Selphie and Wakka gonna know that?" Chizu asked, exasperated. "Do they even know about Sora and the others wielding keyblades?"

"Okay, what the heck are you two talking about?" Machi asked.

I grimaced. I'd completely forgotten that Machi knew absolutely nothing about Kingdom Hearts.

"You remember me telling you about Sora? The main character of the game?" I asked.

Machi nodded. "Yeah. Brown spikey hair, uses that keyblade thing, you have a bit of a character crush on his silver haired friend, right?"

I blushed slightly at her last comment, but nodded. I heard Chizu start to giggle behind me but she shut up when I glared at her.

"Well, this is Sora's home world. And the home world of the silver haired guy," I continued.

"Riku," Chizu butted in, grinning slightly.

I glared at her again. "Yes, Riku. Thank you Chizu."

Machi was also grinning at this point but I just rolled my eyes and carried on.

"Tidus, Selphie and Wakka are three other kids who live in this world. But Chizu is right. We don't know if they know about the keyblade. If they don't then we can't blab to them. If they do then they'll wonder how we know."

"Can't we just tell them how we know?" Machi asked.

"Machi, how would you react if someone told you your life was a video game?" Chizu asked. "You'd think they were mad."

Machi grimaced. "Good point."

"Look, let's get down there first and see what happens," I suggested. "Nothing's going to change if we just sit up here."

Machi and Chizu both nodded. Chizu and I helped Machi to her feet and we walked back down the path we had come from, presuming it would take us back down to the beach. We were right, and we soon arrived down on the beach. Selphie spotted us almost immediately and her face fell before she nudged Wakka and Tidus and pointed at us. Tidus immediately pushed Selphie behind him and pointed his sword at us. If I hadn't been freaking out a little over the fact that a video game character was threating us with a wooden sword I would have squealed at him being protective over Selphie.

Selphie looked similar to how she did in Kingdom Hearts 2, right down the fact she was wearing her school uniform. Tidus looked around the same age as her, and Wakka looked slightly older. The boys were wearing blue tartan pants and white shirts, with blue tartan ties the same as the one Selphie was wearing. Clearly they all went to the school on the main island.

"Who are you?" Wakka called out to us when we were still about fifty metres away from them.

"We need help!" I called back. "My friend Machi cut her cheek really badly in the forest."

I saw Selphie frown before she muttered something to Wakka. He nodded, his face softening.

"We have a first aid kit in the hut. Come on," he said, gesturing to the door I knew would lead us up to the platform next to which the paopu tree grew.

Whenever I had played Kingdom Hearts the hut had always been pitch black, but now Tidus held the door open for us and the room was flooded with light. There were various shelves around the small room holding empty water bottles and packets of food, as well as a ladder at the side of the room which led up to the platform. Wakka grabbed a small white box from one of the shelves and ushered us back out. He sat down on the sand and handed the box to Selphie. She opened it and pulled out a wipe before motioning for Machi to stand next to her.

"Hold still," she said somewhat shyly, beginning to gently wipe the blood from her cheek. Machi stood quietly, smiling in thanks.

Tidus sat down next to Wakka, still looking at us with suspicion. "So, who are you?" he asked. "You never said."

"I'm Hana," I introduced myself as we stood next to Selphie and Machi. "This is Chizu and Machi. We're…not from around here."

Wakka frowned. "You from another world, yah?"

I hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Something like that."

"So you guys _do _know about other worlds?" Chizu asked.

Wakka nodded, looking slightly confused. "Yah. Not in detail but we've been told about them from our friends. Why do you ask?"

"We need to figure out how to get back home to our world," I said honestly.

"You'll want to talk to Riku then," Selphie said as she rummaged through the white box before fishing out a Band-Aid. "He's been to other worlds."

"So have Sora and Kairi," Tidus pointed out.

"Yeah, but Riku just came to get Kairi the other day, so she must be busy with something. And Sora hasn't been back since he went to sit that test thing last week," Selphie replied as she stuck the Band-Aid on Machi's cheek. "There you go," she smiled. "I think the bleeding has stopped now."

"Thank you," Machi smiled back.

I frowned as I tried to figure it out. "So, Sora and Riku left for their test last week? And Riku came back to get Kairi a few days ago?"

Wakka nodded. "Yeah, that's right? What, you know Sora and the others?"

Chizu and I smiled at each other a bit. "I guess you could say that," Chizu said.

Tidus looked over behind us. "Well, here comes Riku now, if that's relevant."

As my head snapped round I heard Machi and Chizu giggle. "Very relevant," Machi murmured but I ignored her.

Tidus was right: Riku was walking towards us with no sign of a boat. Master Yen Sid must have sent him back from his tower. And oh my freaking glob he was gorgeous. He was even more muscular and handsome in real life than he was in HD.

His hair was cut short, so we must have arrived in the Kingdom Hearts universe shortly after Dream Drop Distance in terms of the game timeline, which would make sense considering Selphie had said Riku and Sora had been sitting a test – that would be the Mark of Mastery exam.

His blue-green eyes widened slightly when he saw the three of us with Tidus, Selphie and Wakka.

"Who are you?" he asked, sounded slightly different than he does in the game. His voice was a bit deeper.

As slightly star-struck as I was I somehow held back my inner fangirl and answered fairly calmly.

"My name is Hana. These are my friends Chizu and Machi. We're from another world and we don't know how to get back home."

Riku raised one silver eyebrow. "Another world?"

I nodded. "You've not been there though. Neither's Sora."

Riku now frowned. "How do you know about Sora?"

Before I could answer, Machi screamed.

"What the hell is _that_?!" she shrieked.

I turned round to see a shadow heartless crouched in front of Machi, about to leap up at her.

Quick as a flash Riku was suddenly in front of Machi, his Soul Eater keyblade held out in front of him as the heartless vanished. As it did so however a dozen more appeared out of the ground, some shadows and some soldiers.

"Damn it," Riku muttered through gritted teeth before turning to us. "Wakka! Get everyone somewhere safe!"

"Got it!" Wakka nodded before grabbing Chizu's arm and starting to run. Selphie tugged on Machi's sleeve and she quickly ran after her. Tidus jumped forwards and grabbed my hand.

"Come on!" he said, pulling me in the direction the others were running in.

"But!" I started to protest, watching the heartless circle Riku as more and more appeared.

"Riku'll be fine," Tidus insisted. "He knows his way with that keyblade of his. Now come on!"

I reluctantly let Tidus pull me away and began running after the others.

Suddenly I heard Chizu screech and watched as she tripped over something – probably her own feet knowing her. Wakka, Selphie and Machi were already past her as they turned back, and Tidus and I were running towards her.

Just then a shadow heartless appeared out of the ground right next to where Chizu was now lying flat on her face. She turned her head and saw the huge yellow eyes staring at her. She screamed in terror as it crouched to lunge at her. She held her arm over her face, her palm facing the heartless.

"Chizu!" I screamed, fear gripping my heart that my best friend was about to die.

Then there was a bright flash of white light, so bright that I had to cover my eyes. When the light faded and I opened my eyes again, my jaw dropped open.

The heartless was gone.

And a shimmering Kingdom Key was in Chizu's hand.

She gawked at it before she came to her senses and jumped to her feet as even more heartless appeared around her.

"Hana?" she called, a slight quiver in her voice. "What do I do?"

"How am I supposed to know!?" I exclaimed, coming to a stop beside her.

She shrugged. "You're the expert here! You've played Kingdom Hearts way more than I have!"

"That doesn't mean I know how an actual keyblade works!"

"Guys! Look out!" Machi yelled.

I turned to see a heartless leaping at me. I instinctively held my hand out and squeezed my eyes shut. I felt a surge of power flow through me and heard a gasp from Chizu next to me. I opened my eyes and gasped myself. I too was now holding a Kingdom Key.

I glanced at Chizu and she nodded silently, looking shocked. We've known each other for long enough that we knew what each other was thinking without even saying anything.

Somehow when we'd taken hold of those fake keyblades, whatever power brought us here also gave us the ability to wield keyblades.

Which must mean…

Before either of us could say it we both spun round to see Machi with her eyes squeezed shut, holding her very own Kingdom Key out in front of her, both hands wrapped tightly around the handle.

She opened her eyes and gazed at her new weapon in wonder. She may not know much about Kingdom Hearts but she knew enough to know she could fight the heartless with the giant key she now held.

She ran over to us and the three of us stood back to back, all of us pointing our keyblades out at the ever increasing swarm of heartless. Wakka, Selphie and Tidus had also now drawn weapons, although I would bet quite a lot of money that a ball, skipping ropes and a wooden sword weren't going to be as effective against the heartless as three keyblades.

There was a flurry of movement next to us and then Riku was there, pointing his keyblade at the heartless just like me and the girls. He glanced down at me, smiling ever so slightly.

"You didn't tell me you were a keyblade wielder," he said.

I grinned back. "I didn't know I was until thirty seconds ago."

His smile widened slightly before all three of us simultaneously jumped into the swarm of black and yellow, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie fighting from the side-lines.

Riku was clearly better than any of us; that was a given since he was a Keyblade Master by this point. But I was surprisingly not bad either! Not Master material, obviously, but better than I would have expected. Chizu wasn't too bad either, but Machi was struggling. I guessed that our amount of experience of fighting with a keyblade in the video games must influence how well we were fighting with them now.

Luckily for Machi, shadows weren't very strong so with Riku fighting with us we finished them all off in a few minutes. Even with that the three of us were breathing hard when our keyblades vanished, clearly not used to this. Riku was grinning now.

"Well, it seems pretty obvious you're not trained fighters," he chuckled.

I glared at him, but I was smiling. "We don't have reason to fight. The heartless don't exist in our world."

Riku raised an eyebrow again, still smiling. "Sounds like a nice world."

Chizu snorted. "You have no idea dude."

"To be fair, it has its plus points," Machi smiled.

All four of us were grinning now.

"Well, I guess you could say that about any world," Riku said.

I chuckled. "You weren't saying that about this place before you left though, were you?"

Riku's smile immediately disappeared. "How do you know about that?"

I mentally slapped myself for talking without thinking again.

"Who are you?" he asked again, looking hard at all three of us.

I looked at Machi and Chizu. They both looked worried, so I took a deep breath and turned back to face Riku.

"I honestly don't know how much I can tell you," I said. "I know that you're a Keyblade Master, that you and Sora sat your Mark of Mastery exam not too long ago, about the keyblade and about the other worlds. I know a lot more other than that but I don't know how much you can know."

Riku was frowning, but he didn't look confused as such. "If you can't tell me then how can I help you?" he asked.

"We need to speak to Master Yen Sid," I said without even thinking. He seemed to know about most things that went on. If anyone knew how we got here and why we now had keyblades, it would be him.

Riku nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

"Um…" Chizu butted in. "Quick question. Will Donald and Goofy be there?"

Riku nodded again slowly. "Probably. Why?"

Chizu just grinned a little and looked over at Machi. She blinked once before realisation dawned in her eyes.

"Donald and Goofy? As in Donald Duck?" she exclaimed.

Chizu and I both started to laugh, while Riku just looked confused.

I smiled at him. "Sorry. Another thing I don't know if I can tell you."

He sighed slightly. "There's going to be a lot of that, isn't there?"

I grinned sheepishly. "Probably, yeah. Sorry…"

He shook his head. "It's fine. Now I know how Sora feels most of the time! Not having a clue what's going on."

I laughed while Chizu scowled. "Hey, be nice about Sora!"

Riku chuckled and held his hands up. "Sorry."

He smiled at all of us again. "I know you apparently already know who I am but I'll introduce myself anyway. I'm Riku."

"I'm Hana," I smiled, brushing some of my long, sandy brown hair out of my eyes.

"Chizu," Chizu grinned.

"And I'm Machi," Machi said a little more shyly, playing nervously with the hem of her skirt.

Riku nodded. "Well, now that the introductions are all over, let's go."

He held out his hand and a corridor of darkness appeared. I stepped back slightly in surprise. Riku notices and smiled slightly.

"The darkness still comes in handy from time to time," he admitted.

"Can we…you know, pass through safe enough?" I asked.

"Or are we gonna need the big black coats?" Chizu added.

Riku shook his head. "It's a short corridor. The darkness won't harm you."

We all nodded, albeit slightly shakily before we followed him into the dark portal.

* * *

**AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Golden Eyes

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I HAVE THE BEST FRIENDS EVER. **

**Holly and Steph, I love you two soooooooo much **

**This chapter is dedicated to Kasagai-chan and justaswifty. (i.e. the two best people EVER)**

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix and Disney. I own Hana, Chizu, Machi, Hisano, Mariko and Yukiko.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Golden Eyes**

_~Hisano's POV~_

…

…Holy crap my head was sore.

I sat up slowly and looked around. All I could see was dry red rocks and dry red ground, with a sharp drop down right in front of me. I was somehow on the top of a cliff. This place looked vaguely familiar, but I was sure I hadn't been here before.

I rubbed my temples as everything that had happened came back to me in reverse order: the bright light that turned to darkness at the last moment, taking hold of the keyblades, Mariko screaming…

My head jerked up. Mariko and Yukiko! I looked around but from where I was sitting I couldn't see them. I jumped to my feet and my hair started to whip around my face from the strong winds. I pulled the dark brown mess into a ponytail before looking around again. I could either go right or left with the drop at my back and something was telling me to go left. It was like my feet knew where they were going.

I began to run left, scanning the area for either of the other two girls, or even Hana, Machi or Chizu. I couldn't see any of them which was really worrying, but I kept running. I couldn't just stop; for one I had no idea where I was, and secondly I just had a gut feeling that the girls were here. Somehow I could just sense it.

I turned round a corner into a valley with cliffs towering over me on either side, and spotted something lying on the ground quite a distance in front of me. I gasped before I ran towards it as fast as I could. I would recognise that mass of brown curly hair anywhere.

"Mariko!" I called, but she didn't stir. I sped up in panic.

When I reached her I first checked her pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief that she was still alive. I shook her gently.

"Mariko! Mariko, wake up!"

She groaned slightly before her eyes blinked open.

"Hi…Hisano?" she murmured.

I smiled. "Yeah, it's me. You alright?"

Before Mariko could answer she caught sight of something behind me and her eyes widened.

"Look out!" she cried, her voice sounding weak.

I spun round and saw a black shadow lunge towards me. I instinctively covered my face with my arms and as I did a bright light flashed in front of my closed eyes. When I opened them whatever the black shadow was had disappeared, but I was now holding a giant metal weapon. A weapon I knew very well.

"What the…" I managed to choke out in shock.

I looked back round at Mariko who had now sat up. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wide.

"Is…is that…a _keyblade_?" she gasped.

I looked back at it and nodded slowly. "I…I think so…"

I blinked a few times before looking around. I suddenly realised where we were and I swore under my breath.

"What is it?" Mariko asked.

"The Badlands," I sighed. "We're in the Badlands."

Mariko frowned. "The Badlands?"

I turned back to her. "How much do you know about Kingdom Hearts?" I asked.

Mariko shrugged. "I've played the first game, but that's it."

"Well, has Hana ever mentioned a game called Birth By Sleep?" I asked.

"Yeah, the prequel right?" she replied.

I nodded. "Heard of Xehanort?"

"The bad guy?"

"Yep. Well, this was where he hung out in that game. This was where Aqua, Ventus and Terra – the three good keyblade wielders in that game - fought him. A heck of a lot happened here."

Mariko was shaking her head. "Hang on. You're saying we're in a freaking video game? That's impossible."

I shrugged. "Yeah, it is. But I don't see any other possibility here. This is definitely the Badlands; I've ran through here in the game more times than I can count. I would bet you anything that the black shadowy thing was a heartless. And I have a freaking keyblade." I held it up for emphasis. "You got any better ideas? We take hold of keyblades, something weird happens and we can't move and then suddenly we're in a random dusty place that looks a heck of a lot like world from Kingdom Hearts."

Mariko was silent for a few moments as she took all of this in before her eyes widened again. "What about Yukiko?"

I shook my head. "I haven't seen her yet. But we need to try and find her. And the others if they're here."

Mariko nodded and I helped her to her feet as my keyblade disappeared. She seemed able to walk fine by herself but I didn't want to push it by making her run so we walked as quickly as we could, both of us keeping an eye out for a flash of Yukiko's red hair.

Eventually we came to a very thin passageway which lead out into a huge open area scattered with thousands upon thousands of keyblades. I chewed on my lip.

"The Keyblade Graveyard," I murmured as we walked through it.

Mariko was looking around in shock, staring at all the keyblades. "What is this place?" she asked.

"This is where the Keyblade War happened," I explained. "Keyblade wielders fought for control over Kingdom Hearts, the thing that created the light in the world. They tried to control a powerful weapon called the χ-blade, but their fighting caused it to shatter into twenty fragments: seven of light and thirteen of darkness. These keyblades are all that's left of the war."

Mariko frowned again. "And this is where Aqua, Ventus and Terra fought Xehanort in Birth By Sleep?"

I nodded. "Yeah. And all three of them disappeared."

I was going to explain further, but then I realised that Mariko had stopped walking. I turned to face her but she was staring behind me, her face pale and frightened. I turned round and gasped, stepping back on instinct.

Ahead of us stood a tall man with spikey silver hair and golden eyes. He was wearing a black Organization coat and holding a black keyblade over a figure lying on the floor. The figure was a lot smaller than he was, and as it moved slightly a flash of red caused both Mariko and I to gasp.

"Yukiko!" I yelled, hoping that she could hear me.

The man chuckled darkly. "So her name is Yukiko…" he muttered. We could only just hear him from where we were standing. "Yes…she'll do fine."

I summoned my keyblade and (possibly stupidly) pointed it at him. "Leave her alone!" I shouted.

The man looked over at me and sighed slightly. "Why do people always feel the need to get in my way?" he asked himself before he disappeared.

I heard a strangled scream behind me and whipped around to see the man holding Mariko by the throat.

"Mariko!" I screamed before running forward, my keyblade at the ready.

The man then held his keyblade to Mariko's neck. "One more move and your friend is dead," he said in a voice that suggested he wasn't joking about.

I stopped running but kept holding my keyblade out towards the man. "Who are you?" I asked.

The man smirked. "My name is Master Xehanort. And I require a new vessel in order to forge the χ-blade. My first choice…well that didn't go so well. But your friend over there, Yukiko was it? I think she should work out fine. A strong heart like hers should hold out. Well, for the time I need her anyway."

Mariko started to squirm, but Xehanort tightened his hold on her.

"Oh no you don't," he chuckled.

"Let _go_!" she yelled before something flashed in her hand. Xehanort let go of her in surprise and she ran over to me. By the time she was standing next to me I could see that she was also now holding a keyblade.

"No freaking way…" she gasped softly, a small grin forming on her face.

I nudged her. "Mariko? Insane guy in front of us. Friend in mortal danger behind us. Can we fangirl later?"

Mariko blinked a few times before nodding. "Right. Sorry."

Xehanort raised his eyebrows at us. "So you both wield keyblades," he muttered. "I wonder…"

He smirked again before disappearing again, then reappearing next to Yukiko. He rolled her over with his foot before raising his keyblade, pointing it above her chest. I gasped, realising what he was going to do.

"NO!" I screamed, but it was too late.

Xehanort stabbed Yukiko in the chest.

Mariko screamed, and we both took off running towards Xehanort.

"Don't panic," he shouted to us. "I haven't killed her. I've just…released the potential in her."

Yukiko started to stir, proving that Xehanort was right when he said she wasn't dead. She stood up slowly and opened her eyes. That's what stopped both of us in our tracks. Yukiko's usually playful green eyes were now a bright golden colour. And if I knew one thing about the Kingdom Hearts series it was that golden eyes were never a good thing.

Mariko must have known this too cause she grunted. "That isn't Yukiko anymore, is it?"

I shook my head. "No…it isn't."

Xehanort smiled cruelly before resting his hand on Yukiko's head. "True. This is no longer your friend. She will join with the other twelve to become my thirteenth dark vessel. But for now, go!"

He pointed towards me and Mariko, and Yukiko held her hand out towards us. There was a flash of darkness and a keyblade appeared in her hand. It looked like a Kingdom Key like the ones Mariko and I held, but it was shrouded in darkness.

She ran towards us, ready to attack but before she could there was a flash of light in front of us.

"Attacking two newbies? Not cool man."

A tall figure stood in front of us, also wearing a black Organization coat, but I knew that spikey red hair.

"Axel?" I exclaimed.

He looked round at us and sighed. "It's Lea! Got it memorised?"

Mariko looked very confused, but I made a mental note to explain everything later.

"Anyway, introductions later. We have to get out of here," Lea said.

"But what about Yukiko? We have to save her!" Mariko insisted.

"We'll get her soon, don't worry. But I need to get you two away _now_," Lea replied.

He grabbed both of our shoulders before we could protest and the scene around us disappeared. The last thing I saw was Yukiko's eyes, cold and unfeeling, staring at us with no emotion.

* * *

**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Please review!**


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